OBJECTIVES: In healthcare technology assessment for reimbursement decisions, it is important to consider multiple aspects and public preferences. We aimed to identify important decision-making criteria for reimbursement of drugs to treat life-threatening diseases and to reveal their relative importance for the general public (GP) and healthcare professionals (HCPs) comprising physicians and pharmacists.

METHODS: We selected some decision-making criteria for drug reimbursement from a literature review and conducted a two-step online cross-sectional survey. In the first step, participants were asked to rate each criterion on a 7-point scale. The criteria with high ratings were selected based on means for each group. In the second step, the same participants were asked to allocate 100 points among these criteria to measure their relative importance.

RESULTS: The first survey was completed by 719 participants (GP: 499, HCPs: 220) and 8 criteria were selected: out-of-pocket cost (Mean=5.73 [GP], 5.47 [HCPs]), adverse event (5.66, 5.74), symptom relief (5.61, 5.79), cost effectiveness (5.57, 5.73), productivity loss (5.54, 5.39), life expectancy (5.41, 5.55), significant innovation (5.30, 5.49), and budget impact (5.29, 5.36). There were 613 respondents to the second survey (GP: 421, HCPs: 192). The most important criterion among the GP was symptom relief (relative importance=16.2 vs. 15.6), but the difference with HCPs was not significant. Similarly, no significant differences were found in budget impact (9.7, 8.7) and life expectancy (8.8, 10.5). The criteria in which there were significant differences were out-of-pocket cost (15.2, 9.7), productivity loss (12.7, 10.0), adverse event (11.8, 9.3), significant innovation (11.3, 16.2), and cost effectiveness (14.2, 20.1).

CONCLUSIONS: This study shows the relative importance of reimbursement decision-making criteria both for the GP and HCPs. These findings will provide valuable insight for an appropriate method for drug reimbursement decisions.